A population and housing census will be taken this year to determine the demographic, social and economic characteristics of people, families and households, as well as data on housing at a national, regional and local level.

The National Statistics Office said in a statement that the Prime Minister appointed NSO director general Michael Pace Ross census officer.

A European Parliament and Council regulation on population and housing censuses stipulates that every EU member state had to determine a reference date in 2011 to conduct the census.

The regulation establishes common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive data on population and housing.

Mr Pace Ross will be setting up a coordinating committee to plan and execute this year’s census, the second one to be taken since Malta acceded to the European Union.

The five censuses taken in Malta between 1957 and 2005 were all held in November.